The downhole industry has a need to monitor pressure in every zone of various multi-zone frac completions used in the shale plays around the world. There is a need to be able to feed a fiber optic cable into a groove in the swellable material of a swellable packer. The conventional technique for feeding the cable is to form a narrow groove in the swellable material that leads to a void space or chamber. The fiber optic cable is pushed into the groove until it lands in the void space. The void space avoids causing an outward extension of the swellable material caused by the fiber optic cable having a diameter larger than the width of the groove. Other conventional techniques form a groove at least as large as the diameter of the fiber optic cable. The cable is inserted, and filler material is inserted into the groove.